Marshall: EMT on toll road wants a free ride

Published 5:30 am, Saturday, March 30, 2002

THE POLICE CHIEF of an area town said he always pays the $1 when driving on a Harris County toll road.

He said it isn't logical to spend time arguing with a toll taker about whether police should pay to use the road, especially when he can be reimbursed from his department's petty-cash fund.

But a paramedic who spent years serving as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician has vivid memories of a confrontation at a tollgate several years ago when he refused to pay the buck.

The chief and the paramedic responded to a toll taker's recent comments in this space that pointed out there is an ongoing problem, because of differences between state and county toll regulations, about who should get free passage.

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While the state says "a fire department or police vehicle" doesn't have to pay, the county is more restrictive. Harris County says cops can get by free only when traveling in marked patrol cars. Those driving unmarked cars or vehicles transporting prisoners have to pay.

The state doesn't charge "a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency."

Return trip comes at a cost

Harris County doesn't either, but wants any volunteer responding to an emergency in a personal or unmarked vehicle to use a lane with a toll collector, "present the proper identification before signing the non-revenue log" and "state the nature of the emergency for verification purposes."

After the emergency is over, if the volunteer returns the way he came -- using the toll road -- the county says he's got to cough up a buck. Which is what caused that confrontation the paramedic wrote about in his e-mail.

He said that a few years ago, when working as a volunteer EMT, he was dispatched to an accident and "was allowed on the toll road free because I had my lights and sirens going."

He provided care to accident victims until the ambulance arrived and released him from duty. And then, on his way back, he said he "was stopped at the toll plaza and told I had to pay to get off. You see, it not being an emergency now, my lights were off. Now realize, I wouldn't even be on the road if it wasn't for being dispatched by 911. I refused to pay."

He said a constable was called but took about 45 minutes to get to the toll plaza because he was working the same accident. The constable recognized the volunteer and refused to arrest him, "despite the protest from the Toll Road Authority Supervisor," said the paramedic.

"So finally, down the road I went," he said, adding: "That wasn't the only time I had trouble."

An official with Harris County Toll Road Authority said state laws regarding tolls apply to toll facilities that are owned and operated by the state, but Harris County can make up its own rules for the toll facilities that are owned and operated by Harris County.

The official said that there are so many police and fire personnel in a wide variety of government departments at all levels, that it would have a tremendous impact on tollgate profits to let them all pass free. She said the reason marked patrol cars don't have to pay is because their presence helps encourage toll-road users to drive safely.

Time is of the essence

The paramedic, who now holds a full-time paid position in that field, said the reasons volunteers should not be required to pay tolls when returning from emergencies include the fact that they invest considerable time and effort in becoming and staying certified. A volunteer may have to pay for the courses he takes and likely will invest many dollars in providing his own equipment and in maintaining and insuring a personal vehicle used in responding to the emergencies.

This paramedic suggested that Harris County Toll Road Authority "come up with their own fire and EMS agencies ... or be charged when we have to work the toll road."

The part of all this I like the least, I think, is where the county wants volunteers on the way to emergencies to stop and show ID and sign a log and state the nature of the emergency. I keep thinking how much I might resent any such delay if I were sprawled unconscious across the hood of a wrecked car.